


AIs and LMDs

by IncendiaGlacies



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:21:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25691230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncendiaGlacies/pseuds/IncendiaGlacies
Summary: Daisy and LMD Coulson end up on a different earth where Coulson finally meets someone who understands what it’s like not to be human. AoS/LoT crossover
Relationships: Gideon & Phil Coulson, Gideon/Rip Hunter, Phil Coulson & Skye | Daisy Johnson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	AIs and LMDs

**Author's Note:**

> No real spoilers past S6 finale of AoS

Daisy held out her hand, feeling the tremors move through her arm and the resulting waves throw the chronicoms against the wall. She breathed deeply and held out a hand for the man on the ground.

“You okay?”

“Just fine. But they really should pay for a new suit for me,” Coulson said, brushing himself off. “This one is completely messed up now.”

Daisy laughed and shook her head a bit, still amazed how exactly like Coulson this LMD – person was. Just as she was about to respond, a crack appeared in the wall, growing and spreading, a light bleeding out from behind it.

“What the hell?” she whispered as the light engulfed them. When she opened her eyes again, Coulson was still by her side but they were no longer in a dark underground but on the street, where cars and people bustled by. “Where are we?”

“When are we?” Coulson countered, pointing out the anachronistic cars from the seventies. They still weren’t in their proper time period.

“1972, would you mind moving to your right just a bit?” A man in a duster walked up to them.

“Yeah sure,” Coulson obliged, interested in understanding what this man was up to and why he wasn’t surprised by the question, and how he happened to show up at just the right time.

The man pulled out a revolver and shot two men on top of the roof. Daisy quickly saw another person on the opposite roof and quaked them off. The man simply raised his eyebrow, clearly impressed and holstered his gun. “Thank you for that. Rip Hunter, time traveller. What year are you from originally, and what earth?”

“Twenty first century,” Coulson answered easily.

“Ah, of course, there seems to be a lot of time travel going on there for some reason.” He frowned.

“I’m sorry, did you say what earth?” Daisy spluttered. Then she took it in for a moment. “You know what? That checks out actually.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Coulson agreed.

“First time interdimension hopping?” Rip asked wryly.

“Not even half the crazy stuff we’ve seen,” Daisy said.

“Try me.”

“Aliens.”

“Annoying, aren’t they? Especially with the constant ‘take over the world’ program.”

“I quake stuff.” Daisy demonstrated by throwing a dumpster against a brick wall.

“Metahuman?”

“On our earth we call it inhuman.”

“On this earth we’d call that vibing,” Rip responded.

“I’ve died like three times now,” Coulson said.

“Did that once or twice. Had a friend that was dead for a year. Horribly inconvenient.”

“And now I’m an LMD, that’s Life Model Decoy, aka-”

“Android,” Rip said knowingly. “Thought there was something I liked about you. You haven’t met my partner, Gideon, she’s – where is she?” Rip looked around and sighed, putting two fingers in his mouth and whistling loudly. “Gideon! We are not adopting a stray cat!”

Daisy followed his line of sight and saw a small woman cuddling a cat in the alley. “She’s adorable! I’ve named her Luna!” she yelled back.

“She probably has fleas!”

Gideon simply wandered over, still holding the tiny silver kitten. “Nothing a bath and a trip to the medbay won’t fix.” She looked over Daisy and Coulson. “Who are your friends?”

“They helped save my life, since you were too busy looking at the cat.”

“Honestly, Captain. You can’t deny this sort of cuteness.”

“It is pretty cute,” Coulson admitted.

“Not to interrupt, whatever this is,” Daisy said, having seen this type of banter between Coulson and May plenty, “but can you help us get home?”

“Of course.” Gideon closed her eyes and Daisy felt hot wind blow against her face. She turned around and saw a huge silver ship land behind them.

“My timeship,” Rip said. He took out a remote and pressed the button so a drawbridge lowered. Gideon cleared her throat loudly. “Our ship,” he corrected himself.

“My ship. Everyone else is simply a passenger. Come on.” Gideon began walking forward.

“You cannot be serious about the cat!”

“I am!”

“Hey, maybe I should-”

“No cat,” Daisy cut off Coulson before he could continue.

“You guys really are no fun.”

As they headed inside, Gideon split off from them to find Luna a new home, giving Rip a quick kiss as she left. Coulson was surprised by the affection, was it really possible for a human and android to have a relationship? Could there have been hope for himself and May?

“I’m going to go see if Gideon needs any help. You two seem to have this under control,” Coulson said.

“Yeah, we’ve got it. You good?” Daisy asked.

“Yeah, I’m good.” He wandered to the ship and found Gideon sitting under what seemed to be the engines, cooing at the cat. “It’s a really pretty kitty.”

“Isn’t it? Rip will come to love her in no time.” Gideon stroked the cat and looked up at him serenely. “I’m taking it you came looking for me for a reason. I could feel you waiting outside for exactly ninety-five seconds before entering.”

“How come I can’t sense people like that?”

“I am the Artificial Intelligence of the ship, the AI, I’m still one with her. I can occupy this body or the ship.”

“And you choose the body.”

Gideon shrugged. “It allows me to make sure my Captain is safe on missions.” She tilted her head at him. “Did you have a choice?”

“No. I used to be a person, a human, and then I died. And all my memories were downloaded into this body. And I – I’m not him, I’m me, but I don’t even know what that means.”

“Does anybody?” she murmured.

“How am I supposed to go from flesh and blood and thoughts to ones and zeroes. It’s all just programming. Do I actually like ice cream or is that something that’s just in my code?”

Gideon looked up. “You can eat?”

“Yeah, eat and drink.”

“I need to get that upgrade.” She stroked the cat again and it purred. “My Captain once explained to me, as we were starting our relationship…I objected. I told him he needed a real human, someone to share his thoughts with, share his life with. I had no body at the time, I was nothing compared to him. Nothing but code.” She gave Coulson a meaningful look. “He told me that’s what humans were too, I argued, but in the end, he’s right, isn’t he? Nothing but DNA, building blocks put together, thoughts being relayed back and forth through nervous system electric impulses. We’re not so different after all.”

“But we are.”

“How? I mean, what’s it like, to be human?” she asked curiously. “Rip can never explain it well. I think because he’s only ever known being human and not anything else.”

Coulson paused, taking in the question. “Breathing, feeling your heart beat, dreaming. Charging, it’s nothing like sleeping. They think it is, but it’s completely different.”

“I always wanted to dream. Rip’s son would dream the happiest dreams.”

“He has a kid?”

“Had. He had a family. Not anymore. All he has is me now.” Luna meowed in Gideon’s arms and she cuddled the kitten appropriately.

“And he’s all you have.”

“Until he dies.”

“Another truth I’m not ready to face.”

“Another fact humans don’t understand,” she said sadly. “At some point, we’ll lose them all. Everyone we loved, everything. And we’ll be the ones to continue, alone. I wonder if an android’s heart can break metaphorically.”

Coulson certainly thought so. “But that’s why we cherish the ones we love now.” He thought of Daisy and May, the rest of his team, his family. “I’ve died before, but I’ve come back. When I lose them…”

“In some ways, it’s the coming back that hurts more,” she said sadly.

“Really?”

Gideon shrugged. “I’ve lost Rip so many times now. Near death experiences, amnesia, lost in time. Every time, I was sure he was fine. But every time, holding onto that hope, the fear that you’ve lost them. It drains you. How do you go on in life, continuously waiting on someone you don’t know when you’ll see them again?”

Coulson thought of May and Daisy again, and everything his reappearance had put them through. But then, it had been Daisy that had chosen to bring him back again. “Do you ever forgive him?” He had to know that there was a chance for him and May.

“Eventually. It took time. A lot of yelling. But I love him, I’ll always forgive him. And he’ll always come back.”

Coulson smiled. “You know, it’s nice to have someone to talk to about this sort of stuff.”

“It is. It’s like having friends, isn’t it?”

He smiled, clearly this woman didn’t get out much still. But she seemed nicer than Aida was. “Yeah. You know, my friends call me Phil.”

“Phil. I like it. I’m still Gideon.”

He laughed and nodded.

“Perhaps,” she started slowly, looking down, “when we’re alone again, we can be together. Two friends, dealing with losses and figuring out how to live life as non-humans.”

Phil nodded. “It would be helpful to have support at the end of it.”

Gideon smiled and let Luna go, allowing the kitten to scurry off. Daisy came in, out of breath.

“There you are. Rip figured out a way to get us back. Apparently a guy named Cisco already invented a way to travel between dimensions, who knew?”

“Cisco is very resourceful,” Gideon commented.

“He’ll have to meet Fitzsimmons one day,” Coulson said, “they’d get along well.”

The trio walked back to the bridge where Rip was waiting with the device to take them home. “You can keep this one,” he told them, handing the device to Daisy.

“Rip, I’ve decided I want another upgrade,” Gideon said.

“You already chose one to have lasers come out of your eyes and a gun in your hand!”

“Yes, but I want to be able to eat and drink too!”

Rip sighed. “You just want to eat chocolate.”

“It’s an important food group!” Gideon whined and pouted and Rip stood stern. She sighed loudly. “Fine, I’ll eat vegetables too.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Rip turned to Daisy and Coulson. “Good luck to you both.”

“Thank you, for everything,” Coulson said, giving Gideon a meaningful look. She smiled back at him.

Daisy pushed the button and a portal of light opened. “Here we go.” She paused and looked at them again. “This thing that we’re dealing with, it might get complicated. If we need help-”

“You can count on us,” Rip said.

“Thanks.” Daisy smiled and stepped through. Coulson took one last look at Gideon and Rip and then followed. The portal collapsed behind them.

“Well they seemed nice. I quite liked Phil.”

“Phil?”

“That’s his name. Well, to his friends anyway. Which is what I am now.”


End file.
